Robots are widely used in Amazon warehouses, which are ideal playgrounds for experimenting with new technologies. Two years ago, we met Digit, a two-armed, bipedal robot responsible for handling empty bins used for order preparation.
Vulcan is a different kind of robot: it can sense physical pressure thanks to force feedback sensors. This allows it to manipulate objects with finesse, much like a human would slide a hand into a cluttered shelf without knocking everything over.
Vulcan uses an arm with a system combining a camera, a suction cup, and a special gripper that can adjust its gripping force. It can move objects into narrow compartments in the warehouse, push them precisely, and insert them with a mini-conveyor belt system built into its "fingers." The robot works at a speed similar to that of its flesh-and-blood colleagues.
It knows not only when it touches an object, but also how it touches it, which prevents errors or damage. Vulcan can also signal when human intervention is necessary.
Amazon developed this robot to improve working conditions. Vulcan is used to reach the highest or lowest parts of shelves, places that are difficult to access or not very ergonomic for humans. It is able to handle approximately 75% of the items in inventory.
Vulcan will join a fleet of more than 750,000 machines: this ranges from transporting carts (Titan, Proteus, Hercules) to handling objects (Sparrow, Cardinal, Robin). Its brain is AI, of course: it has been trained to recognize and manipulate objects by taking touch into account, even learning from its mistakes over time.
The robot will appear in Amazon's American and European logistics centers within two years.
Source: Amazon
0 Comments